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There's a stabbing pain in his chest. They did it. They killed him. And for what? Revenge? Pettiness? Purely because they didn't like him? Did anyone even like him? There was Shelby and Drift, even Scott seemed to warm up to him, but maybe it was nothing but a facade. Perhaps deep down everyone hated him.
Elle liked him, but she was gone now. Even if she wasn't, he would have no way to get back to her now.
Tears ran down Avid's face as he slumped against the cold stone wall. "I don't want to die," he mumbled, "I just want to go home."
He thought of his life. His friends, his partner, his past. He lived most of his life in fear of the monster he could become, but in the past few days, all of that had changed. He was powerful and fearless.
Maybe if he hadn't gone into the forest all those years ago this wouldn't have happened. Maybe then Elle would still be alive. Maybe he would still be alive. God, why did he have to be so stupid? Curiosity really did kill the cat.
Avid's breath shallowed further as he lost more and more blood. It stained his white shirt as it oozed out of his wound. The deep cuts that were made in the struggle kept stinging. His neck wound began to burn. His stab wound started pulsating and he grunted in discomfort.
He turned to his side, writhing in pain as his neck wound reopened and started throbbing. What did he do to deserve this?
No, he knows what he did. The way he pushed Elle to go to Oakhurst even if it was against both of their best judgments. How he pushed almost everyone away in fear of hurting them. The way he accused people, innocent people, of heinous crimes. He deserved every ounce of pain he felt.
Would Elle hate him? Would she have hated the person he became? Did he really ever change though? Perhaps his cruelty was always within him, just suppressed until it was nothing but a concept.
Avid started coughing violently, blood came up as he spit it out on the floor. Owen and Pryo were long gone by now. They were probably celebrating his death, remarking how he was nothing but a burden.
He groaned in pain. His neck burned as blood oozed out, staining his ivory hair. He cried out in pain. "Shelby, help please." He called quietly. Even if she was close she wouldn't be able to hear him. He was full on bawling now, from the pain. "Drift," he sobbed.
After a pause he wailed, "Scott." If he died, he didn't want to die alone. He wanted his friends, even though they probably hated him. They had every right to hate him, but for some reason, they still talked to him.
Avid choked out another sob. He had so many things we wanted to do. He wanted to bury Elle, he wanted to help Shelby and her research, he wanted to talk to Drift, he wanted to spend an eternity with Scott.
His eyes grew heavy. The air he sucked up got caught in his throat. The tears on his face left damp streaks along his face. His hair was drenched from the mix of blood and sweat. The neck wound continued to secrete blood, which drips down to his dirty dress shirt. The stake, still in his chest, had crusted blood all over it.
"I'm sorry," he whispered, as a final tear left his eye and ran down his face.
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Avid awoke with a dull pain in his chest. He lie on a dark ground surrounded by darkness. His mind was groggy, and he couldn't remember what had happened.
He was in a dark forest. Not a dark oak forest but, a forest made of pitch black trees, with nothing but the emptiness of the void behind. Everything was dark. He was only able to see the silhouettes of trees and foliage in his surroundings.
Avid managed to get himself back on his feet when he had a sharp pain in his chest. He stumbled to a nearby tree, or what seemed to be a tree.
"Where the hell am I? What happened?" He questioned as panic set in. Would he die there? Could he get back? Can he get back?
His head was spinning with thoughts of anxiety. Did someone send him there?
He gripped the tree for support as his eyes watered. His breathing grew frantic. He was terrified of what was happening. Why couldn’t he remember? He couldn’t remember the past day, well what seemed to be a day. What happened? Why? What was the issue? WHY?
"WHY CAN’T I REMEMBER?!" he yelled and he collapsed against the tree. He had to remember something. He remembered his childhood, his time at Oakhurst, and his friends. After a moment of intense panic, Avid took a breath. He focused on each breath as the air came in through his nose and out through his mouth.
"Okay, it's okay Avid," he said to himself, "Certainties and uncertainties."
He stood up from the tree he had slumped on in his panic and dusted his clothes off.
He took a deep breath in. "Certainties," he paused for a moment, "I am a vampire, I love my friends, and I miss Elle."
He walked a few steps away from the tree. He looked around at the dark trees and void-like sky.
"Uncertainties," he hesitated. What wasn't uncertain? "I don't know where I am, I don't know if I can get back, and I don't know how I got here." He spoke confidently as he tugged on the sleeve of his shirt.
Avid wandered through the pitch black forest, hoping for some kind of hint as to how he could get home. Some shimmer of hope that he would be okay. That's all he really wanted at this point: to be okay.
He couldn't help but feel like he did this to himself. It was him who wanted to go into the woods that day. It was him who dealt the final blow to Elle. It was him who wanted to go to Oakhurst. It was all his fault.
He pushed those thoughts to the back of his mind as he walked aimlessly through the darkness, lost in thought. The air was cold, almost as if it was soulless. There was no breeze, no sound aside from Avid's nervous breathing and footsteps.
'What if I'm stuck here forever?'
Avid stopped dead in his tracks. The thought alone of being isolated and away from everyone he cared about, everyone who cared about him, absolutely petrified him. His breath became quick and irregular.
'No, stay calm. I need food, water, and shelter. Water first.'
Now Avid walked with a purpose. The purpose of finding water, of finding basic necessities for survival.
He hurriedly walked, releasing all of the stress and panic from earlier into his walk. He speed walked through the void until he saw something in the distance. What was that? Light?
Avid began running towards the light source, praying to the universe that it held answers. He weaved through trees and through the small shrubs, tears welling in his eyes from just the thought of hope. The slight chance that he could still go home.
And there he was, standing in front of a boxy house. Light seemed to pour out of the door. He hesitantly inched towards the door, putting his hand out to open it.
As he opened the door, the light seemed to blind him. He squinted through the light to see what was inside the house.
Elle. It was Elle. She was standing in the middle of the house with a bandaged torso. Half of her body seemed to be taken over by darkness, and she had a single horn on the right side of her head. She just stared.
Avid's eyes began to fill with tears. He ran up to Elle, and pulled her into a hug.
"I'm so sorry," his shaky voice choked. He slightly adjusted to look in Elle's eyes, tears were streaming down his face, "I didn't want to hurt you! I just was scared and I didn't know what else to do, I-"
"I know Avid," she replied gently, "I don't blame you." She gave him a gentle smile as she squeezed him back into a tight hug.
Avid cried into her, holding her tight, afraid to lose her again. He finally felt some kind of peace since arriving there.
Elle was dead. So he's dead. He would never see anyone again. Not Shelby, not Drift, not Scott. It broke his heart, but he had Elle. They could be together after months of suffering apart.
"But Avid," Elle said, "I'm not really here, am I?"
Avid's heart dropped. No, this can't be possible. Elle is dead, she had to be. But… she wasn't a vampire, so why would the stake kill her?
He fell back onto the hard oak floor in shock as ‘Elle’ dissipated into the shadows. He couldn't help but sob.
"No no no no no no no no no. She's not dead, I left her. She'll hate me," he choked out. To Elle, all he did was try to kill her and run away. She would hate his guts.
Avid lay on the floor with tears still running down his face. What was he meant to do? What would anyone do in this situation?
He began to close his eyes, tired from everything. Suddenly, he had a sharp pain in the back of his head. And just like that, he remembered everything.
He really was dead. He died. Owen and Pyro killed him. He was never going to see anyone ever again, not even Elle. She wasn't dead.
Avid cried and cried as he pulled his knees up to his chest. He sobbed until he inevitably fell asleep, only to dream of the life he could've had.
But instead he was stuck in Limbo.